What is the best Frank Sinatra CD?

Sonics or Frankie's voice? Older the better, voice wise. Strangers in the Night? His voice was way over by then. Maybe 10 years over. Frank in the 40s: ooo la la. Recording quality? There you may have a problem...

Try the remastered Sinatra At The Sands with Count Basie. The
LP is one of the great live recordings and the CD is pretty good.

I don't know if it is "sonically definitive," but one of my favorites has awlays been "Sinatra and Jobim" conducted by Claus Ogerman. Some of Sinatra's best vocal work, IMHO, and the remastered CD sounds quite good.

"Songs for Swingin' Lovers" (MFSL UltraDisc 24 Kt. Gold CD)

Matt:

Sinatra's voice sounded at its best in the 1950's on Capitol records with Nelson Riddle conducting. With that said ... for pensive Sinatra at its best, go with "In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning." For swinging Sinatra at its best, go with "Songs for Swingin' Lovers."
Honorable Mention goes to "A Swingin' Affair" ... getting the brass fanfare right will be a real test for your amps & speakers.

Regards, Rich

My favorite Sinatra album is Francis A. & Edward K. The remastered cd is very nice sounding and if you can find the vinyl it is exceptional. By the way Edward K is Duke Ellington.

Duets 1 and 2 . Although he is not singing alone , the band behind him sounds superb.

Even though I own the three-cd set "The Capitol Years", listening to Frank on anything but vinyl somehow seems wrong. I own many Sinatra lps and the Jobim is very good as someone else mentioned and is available new.

My 3 favorite Sinatra recordings are (in no particular order):
1. Sinatra At The Sands (with Basie);
2. Francis A. and Edward K.
3. September of My Years

A few months back one of the writers at Stereophile had written about track 6 On the Road to Mandalay from the original Capitol release of Come Fly With Me. I believe that his review said something to the effect that for a recording made in 1957 that he could almost feel as if Frank had a presence in his room.

I ran out and purchased, I could not believe my ears. Then shortly after that found that there was a 20 bit Capital remaster, so I purchased that and Wow, even better.

I will try some of the other recomendations that people have written about.

Thanks and Enjoy...

Thanks for the tips, gang...

Most, if not all of these are available on yourmusic.com for a nominal fee...

Thanks for the tips, gang...

Most, if not all of these are available on yourmusic.com for a nominal fee...

One frquently overlooked Siatra CD with outstanding sonics and performance is Only the Lonely. I assure you this is a "must have" for Sinatra fans, or anyone who loves beautiful, heartfelt music.

Sonically, you can't go wrong with any of the DCC releases. I just picked up most of them, and they sound excellent. Only problem is that they're all out of print and command pretty high prices, especially sealed.

Try Sinatra live at the Sands - bursting with energy and as a bonus, he sings with the great Count Basie orchestra playing. It is both spectacular and intimate...and a must listen for Sinatra fans. I think it has THE greatest ever performance of '' Fly me to the Moon'' !